Without getting technical - which would mean using words like phosphorus, aeration, algae etc, - I’m going to relay, in simple terms, my experience during last month’s tour of Scugog’s lagoons and water treatment facility.
First and foremost - there is virtually no smell.
The Scugog lagoon system, to the casual observer, really looks more like a large marsh or environmental area. It’s six huge ponds, each covering about 15 acres (six hectares) are the most notable features.
Arriving at the site of Scugog’s lagoons, just north of town, I joined a group of local residents, including Mayor Chuck Mercier and former mayor Doug Moffatt on a hay wagon tour around the six cells (ponds) which form the local sewage treatment facility.
Anyone who understands that lagoons are used to treat and dispose of human waste, would also naturally assume that being anywhere near a facility of this type would be a ‘throat gagging’ experience.
Let’s start out by putting an end to that myth.
The expected unpleasant smell of raw sewage was essentially non existent – even when standing directly above the screened inflow, where a murky fluid (no chunks) enters the lagoon system. This is the point where waste, coming directly from thousands of Port Perry homes, enters the treatment area. If there was going to be a noxious smell - it would have been here. There wasn’t!
Second myth - that solids (from the lagoons) have been seen floating in the Nonquon River is simply ‘pure bull’. Long before arriving at the lagoons, solids flushed into the system have already been reduced to a murky liquid, proving suggestions that ‘floaters’ have been seen in the Nonquon River are simply ficticious.
Our trip around the six ponds was both informative and interesting in that we were witness to a variety of unexpected sights. There was life everywhere. Birds circled overhead, an otter splashed as it descended into the murky water, a family of Canada Geese with a dozen goslings swam to safety from the shoreline, wild ducks streaked across the surface of the ponds and there were thousands of mosquitoes.
While explaining the lagoon’s main objective is to treat wastewater through a combined process of natural, biological and chemical processes – organizers of last month’s open house were hopeful it would help shed the misconception that the area is a cesspool of raw sewage, and show the process is natural – not unlike the work “Mother Nature” does day in and day out.
On that point - they succeeded.
By J. Peter Hvidsten
Focus on Scugog
Rich Tindall discusses the lagoon system with
Councillor John Hancock.
Set to enjoy a tour of Scugog’s lagoon system, during the Region of Durham’s Open House on May 14 are, from left, former Scugog Mayor Doug Moffatt, Rick Wannop, Jamie Ross, John Baranowski and Scugog councillor John Hancock. At far right is Rich Tindall, a project engineer with Durham’s works department.
Photo by J. Peter Hvidsten
Mayor Chuck Mercier listens intently as John Baranowski explains
they are standing directly above the inflow of raw sewage before
it enters the lagoon system.
John Baranowski answered questions about the Scugog lagoon
system to Barb Karthein, Doug Moffatt, Rick Wannop and
Councillor John Hancock.
